West Coast to Lake Wanaka!

Met a great elderly couple in the Fox Glacier parking lot, they took our picture.

NZ land is beautiful

Lake Hawea lookout. Thought we were almost to camp, but it was closed. Had to continue on another couple hours.

Lord of The Rings country

Too many hills!

Cool jungly forest

Copland Track, 18km up to the Hot Springs!

Welcome Flats hot pools, in the mountains

Welcome Flat 'hut'

Ship Creek, a ships hull appeared here in 1872. Was a mystery because no shipwreck had been reported in this area. It was finally matched to a ship that sunk off of Victoria, Australia in 1855.

What not to do

Lunchtime?

Sunset from our camp by the river.

A treat at the top of Haast Pass, our big climb of the day.

Changing brake pads before a descent.

Lupine!

Dessert at the end of the day.

Our progress so far. Red = Completed bike route. Blue= Proposed bike route. Green = Hike

Glacier Country

The cycling adventure continues.🚵

We are cruising down the wild West coast and are now officially in the land of glaciers and snowy mountains. Often battling head winds, although we are told that should mean clear skies. Maybe not always true.

Our legs are growing stronger and the hills are no longer quite so un-ending. Something new to see everyday, and a good meal before bed.

Tyrell learning about bike maintenance. 

A cheeky New Zealand parrot, called a kea.

Quick stop for groceries and a cafe.

Finally found Franz Josef! 

Where the sound of helicopters fills the air- the only safe access for a glacier walk. 

The valley walk.

Also a land of waterfalls.

Stopped for lunch beside this blue river. Rain on the horizon.

Camp after a long day. Trying to cook in the wind. 

Our tent has served us well but is now nearing the end of its life. Tyrell works on a quick repair.

For Thanksgiving we took a zero day and actually checked into a room! Our first real bed in a month. This was at Noahs Ark, where each room featured a different animal.

We plan to spend several days around Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers before continuing on South.

TnT in NZ!

Long day of flying to get here. Uneventful, caught all of our flights, and we weren't on Malaysian Air so that was good.

We just got back from our first NZ "hut" hike. The hut system here is incredible, like Forest Service cabins in Alaska but most are bigger and better. There are hundreds of them spread out all over the country in some really beautiful places.

This was in the Nelson Lakes area. Somehow we always find the places most like home.

It was incredibly windy up on the ridge, had snowed the day before.

My mini-pack.

Rotoiti Lake. Rain showers came and went. We had to keep breaking Tyrell's rule of not riding in the rain to get here.

 Golden Bay. We pedalled over a giant hill to get here but it was worth it.

Another detour we took uphill. Up to a cave with phytokarsts- a type of stalactite that forms where sunlight is present and "grows" toward the light. Algae grows on the side in the sun which then causes more growth in the mineral deposits on that side.

A lovely river.

A lovely beach.

Had to cross a short section on the beach when they were working on the path. Our first several days riding were on the bike trails of the Great Taste Trail from Nelson to Kaiteriteri. A great way to start our trip.

If you don't know why we took this picture, you haven't known Tyrell long enough...

An awesome beach up at Wharariki. Chilly but worth the trip- one of the best sights so far. Exciting too, we had to time the waves to make it through the tunnel. 

Full of stone arches, tunnels, caves, and seals that popped out when you least expected them.

Survived the climb...now it's time to fly down the other side! What I've learned so far: wear sunglasses and keep your mouth closed.

Feeding ground meat to "tame" eels. Longfin eels are something else. They grow to be the largest eels in the world, live only in lakes and streams of New Zealand, at the end of their lives they migrate 5,000 km to Tonga where they lay their eggs before dying, and then the larval stage (a wispy, transparent leaf looking thing) of the eel migrates back to NZ. Weird.

So our adventure continues. We are planning to follow the West coast South, meandering along until we reach Invercargill. Depending on how long that takes we may fly up to the North Island from there. 

Hope you all enjoy some turkey for us on Thanksgiving!